


Hope

by MyrddinDerwydd



Series: Misc Mass Effect Prompt Fills [3]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Alien Biology, Anger, Exaltation (Mass Effect), F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hope, Kett (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23207437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyrddinDerwydd/pseuds/MyrddinDerwydd
Summary: A grief-filled moment in the Kett Exaltation facility.
Relationships: Jaal Ama Darav & Female Ryder | Sara, Jaal Ama Darav & Ryder, Jaal Ama Darav/Female Ryder | Sara, Jaal Ama Darav/Ryder
Series: Misc Mass Effect Prompt Fills [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668511
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8





	Hope

**N7 Month 2019 Day 16: Hope**

Jaal knelt beside the mutated body, despair cutting their strings like a puppet. 

"Noo…" their voice cracked, tears streaming down their face. "They are us… It cannot be true!" Jaal sobbed, deep voice wracked with pain. 

Their rifle lay on the ground, forgotten as their world shattered. The blood pooling on the floor was a sickly blue-black, the Exalted angaran's skin tan and black instead of the vibrant purple hue it had been. 

"This…" Jaal hesitantly touched the coarse, lumpy face with one hand. "This is  _ keshirask nari _ … they steal my family's lives and now they are destroying their spirits!" 

Ryder lay a gentle hand on Jaal's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Jaal.” 

“How many have I killed, not knowing? Ryder, I did not know!” 

The rifle butt scraped on the floor as Ryder picked it up, kneeling beside Jaal in its place. 

“You didn’t know. No one could have known, Jaal.” Ryder’s voice wavered, then hardened. “The Kett will pay for what they’ve done.” 

“They are us…” Jaal repeated, staring at the body. The exalted angara could have been Jaal’s sibling, they had looked so much alike before the kett savaged their soul into the abomination on the floor. Jaal sobbed, broad chest shaking with deep ragged breaths. _ “Sejoh sheaddol _ …”

“Jaal, come on.” Ryder pushed the rifle against Jaal’s shoulder, and they raised a hand to grasp it on instinct alone. “We’re not letting them take any more angara today.”

Jaal sagged forward, leaning their weight into the rifle as they stood. Ryder stood as well, and saw Vetra stalking back across the room toward them, lithe and angular. 

“Ryder, Jaal, I’ve got her! She’s here!” Vetra skidded to a halt as she called out to them. 

“Let’s go save the Moshae.” Ryder said grimly. “There’s always hope, Jaal. Keep fighting.” 

They sprinted toward Vetra, rounding the corner into another decontamination room. A slender, maroon-skinned angara floated through the air on the other side of the window. 

_ Tsiddvfira  _ suddenly raced over Jaal’s head and shoulders like a black lightning storm. They hit the window in a single stride, yelling in a dark fury as they bashed at it ineffectively. 

“Rraaahhh!!” Jaal yelled. “You cannot have our Moshae!” 

“SAM, get this door open now!” Ryder snapped into the comm. 

“Initiating decontam--” 

“NOW, SAM!” 

The door hissed open, Ryder and Jaal nearly colliding as they charged through together. The Moshae slumped bonelessly into the Cardinal’s waiting arms, and the careful way it held the angaran both gave them hope… and fueled their fury. 

**Author's Note:**

>  _Sejoh sheaddol:_ Give peace to me, forgive me.  
>  _tsiddvfira:_ bioelectricity  
>  _keshirask nari:_ an idiom for Exaltation, the process by which the Kett transform their captives. Literally, "violent theft of spirit"


End file.
